The ties between two Eastlake Police officers go back even before they first met.

Former detective Frank Bergant and former patrolman Rich Greer, who both now go by the title special patrolman, were both military men, with Greer spending four years in the Air Force and Bergant three years with the Navy.

While not knowing Greer himself, Bergant was told about the Eastlake police test by Greer's brother in 1987. Greer had been on since 1983 after working in Perry Village and Fairport Harbor.

Each also won officer of the year in Eastlake, an award voted on by their peers.

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Now both men are set to enjoy retirement after more than 50 years of combined service.

Even with all these similarities, their specialties on the job were much different.

Greer said growing up he always knew that he wanted to be a police officer, even disregarding a high school vocational test that gauged what careers one should consider.

"I was the least likely cut out for nursing and police work," he said with a laugh.

While he never thought twice about becoming an officer, Greer said the less often discussed realities of the job never got easy.

"Three of my first four days on the job I was on a dead body call," he recalled. "They don't really warn you about that in the academy."

Greer prided himself in traffic enforcement, leading the department in DUI arrests in the majority of his years on the job. He was also a K9 handler from 1997 to 2006.

"I'll miss the excitement, getting drunks off the road," said Greer, whose last day was Aug. 11. "They kill people, they injure people, they demolish vehicles, it's just infuriating. And they tend to get away with it."

Bergant, on the other hand, wasn't always so gung-ho about the job.

"My first month on, I almost walked away from the job because it was hard for me to write tickets and arrest people," he said. "But my training officer talked me into it by just saying, 'Look, give it six months. The job changes and you're doing it for a reason.'"

Serving as a detective for nearly 16 years, Bergant preferred the investigation part of the job.

"Taking a case, helping the guys out and working it through. That's the part I loved about it," said Bergant, whose last official day was Oct. 6.

Eastlake Police Chief Larry Reik praised Bergant's persistence as an investigator, saying his personality was the perfect match for the detective job.

"He dug and dug and dug until he found the answers," Reik said.

He also cited Bergant's honesty.

"If I asked him for advice, he's not going to look to tell me what I want to hear, he'd tell me what he thought," said Reik.

Greer was the "go-to guy" for the fine details of the police force, even for supervisors, the chief said.

"The guy knew everything about every law," he said.

Greer also gave full effort during every shift, even handing out a traffic ticket with just over an hour left on his final day, Reik said.

Even in their retirements, the two still gave back to the department, the chief said.

"Since the inception of DROP (deferred retirement option plan), they're the first two that I can remember to leave some substantial amounts of money on the table," he said.

But by retiring earlier than they originally planned, Eastlake was able to bring back two officers who were recently laid off due to budget constraints, said Reik.

"It really shows their dedication to the force and the camaraderie that comes along with this job."

Greer and Bergant said they have enough retirement money to support themselves, so they believed it was the right thing to do to help save others' jobs.